SCEC declares Tinubu winner - again; But, lawsuit could still result in runoff

Sunday, June 17, 2012

On Tuesday night, the South Carolina Elections Commission declared Gloria Tinubu was the winner of the Democratic Primary for the new 7th Congressional District seat.
Today, the panel reaffirmed that decision by a 3-2 vote meaning ó as far as the Election Commission is concerned ó there will be no runoff between Tinubu and second place finisher Preston Brittain.
But, itís not a done deal yet.
Thatís because today Horry County Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman ruled he will hear a lawsuit next week which was filed by Conway attorney Morgan Martin on behalf of Brittain who says a runoff should be held.
The order finds issue with the fact the commission did not include Congressman Ted Vick's votes in the primary held on June 12, 2012. Vick withdrew from the 7th Congressional district race after he was charged with DUI.
The Election Commission recalculated the votes without including the 2,340 votes that went to Vick, who ran on the democratic ticket.† The commission took the grand total divided it by two to see if anyone received more than 50% plus 1.† In that calculation, Dr. Gloria Bromell Tinubu received 52.48% of the vote followed by Preston Brittain with 39.40 % of the votes.
A hearing on the merits of the lawsuit will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Georgetown County Courthouse.

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